Is the right postcode really the most important qualification for a candidate?

A REGULAR commenter, an SNP supporter, recently criticised his (Labour) MP for having served as a councillor in another part of the country before being elected as MP in the constituency where he was born and raised. The implication was all too evident: if you’ve ever lived or worked outside a constituency, your legitimacy as a potential representative is suspect. It reminds me of a joke on a panel show recently, where a resident of Cornwall was forever known to the community as “the Traveller” because he had once visited London. (On a supplementary and entertaining note, this same commentator once claimed in a thread that he was a “thorn in the side” of his MP. When I asked my colleague if this was true, he had no idea who I was talking about.) You come across this nonsense a lot: only someone who has lived in a constituency all his life is deemed suitable as...